Barriers and police-managed checkpoints are set up around the Kim Chung facility of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh district, Hanoi, on May 6, 2021. (Photo: VNA)

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on Tuesday announced the results of the genetic sequencing for eight samples taken from COVID-19 patients  who came from various localities and the Indian strain showed up in seven.

The variant B1.617, which the World Health Organization (WHO) classified on Monday as a “variant of concern,” has demonstrated higher spreading capabilities among humans, according to some preliminary studies.  Further research is still needed to explore the variant's transmissibility, disease severity and whether it could make existing COVID-19 vaccines less effective.

An official from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases – its second facility in Dong Anh district currently under lockdown – said the origin of its current outbreak could come from the COVID-19 treatment ward, infecting patients in other faculties and patients’ relatives who came to take care of them.